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| Josh Beckett – Evan Brunell |
Well, today’s a big day, isn’t it?
Either the Red Sox go home or they continue their improbable streak of winning eight of their last nine playoff elimination games.
Taking the hill tonight is, of course, Josh Beckett. The Beckett taking the hill is most certainly not one that we expected to take the hill this October — this one has a lot of questions surrounding him.
Terry Francona denied that Beckett tore his oblique, so what’s troubling him is a mystery right now. It can’t just be a strained oblique, can it, due to him receiving a cortisone shot? Whatever it is, even Beckett’s not deluding himself… but he’s trying to delude us:
Reporter: “Because of the oblique, have you had to adjust the way
you approach pitching at all or make any changes to do anything
differently?”Beckett hesitated for a moment. “No,” he said. (Boston Globe)
Really convincing there, Josh.
Meanwhile, the Sox are going up against “Big Game James” Sheilds, and it will be a tough task. Shields went 14-8 with a 3.56 ERA this year, but take a look at his home ERA: 2.59. As a matter of fact, he backed up that 2.59 ERA in Game One where he only gave up two runs but lost to the Magic Man, Daisuke Matsuzaka that night.
Beckett will need some similar magic tonight. Can he do it?
He’s going to have to, or the Rays will be headed to the World Series.